Producer profile
Tom Wilcox
Tom Wilcox has been in Miloco in the summer of 2006 producing the debut album of Gillian
Glover, and as Tom's answers reveal, she's got quite a band behind her...
Tom is also the lead singer in The Chavs (no, not those Barrat & Burgess' The Chavs, Tom's came first)
Tom has been visiting Miloco's Hoxton, Garden & Toyshop studios and in a previous life he was lead singer with Maniac Squat...
MILC: Hello there and welcome along to the birthday issue of MILC. What material are you recording here at Miloco?
TW: A Gillian Glover solo album, her first. Gillian is a tremendously talented songwriter with a beautiful voice and sense of melody. Gillian also plays in a funk band called Beatroot. Gillian made her recording debut on Roger Glover's 2002 solo album, Snapshot.
Gillian's band:
Woody Woodmansey, drums and percussion
Former drummer with David Bowie / The Spiders From Mars, playing on the classic albums Ziggy Stardust, Hunky Dory, Aladdin Sane and The Man Who Sold The World. Woody has also worked with Art Garfunkel, Paul McCartney, Dexy's Midnight Runners, among others, and is currently in a band call Cybernauts with Trevor Bolder from the Spiders from Mars and Uriah Heep, and Joe Elliott and Phil Collen from Def Leppard.
Rod Melvin, piano, organ, keyboards, backing vocals
Former pianist in Kilburn & The High Roads, working with Ian Dury, with whom he co-wrote the Ian Dury & The Blockheads Top 10 hit What A Waste. Rod has recorded two albums with Brian Eno, including Another Green World, and has composed and recorded extensively for film, TV and theatre.
Claus Bohling, guitar, harmonica
Currently in Cornwall-based Elktrum. Claus was in successful Danish bands Hurdy Gurdy (60's) and Secret Oyster (70's)
Michael Giaquinto, bass
Currently in punk band Vice Squad and rockers The Chavs. Formerly in Maniac Squat and Who's Who.
Keith Godman, acoustic and slide guitars
Also in Thud & Blunder and Jelly Bag
Tom Wilcox, producer Currently singer/organist in The Chavs, formerly front man of Maniac Squat.
MILC: And when is it due to be released?
TW: October 2006.
MILC: How would you describe the music you're making at this moment in time?
TW: Bluesy/folky rock
Tom and the band are spending a week at Miloco, recording the four days in The Garden and then a few days in The Toyshop & The Square editing and mixing. But this isn't Tom's only experience of Miloco...
TW: I'm also part way through producing Vita Ross' debut solo album at Miloco. We're about half way through it. Miloco is ideal for the type of music we are making. The facilities and engineers are excellent and having a Hammond, Rhodes and Wurlitzer to hand makes it retro heaven!
MILC: Please tell us your website & Myspace addresses...
Under development!
MILC: Any forthcoming gigs/events to tell us about?
My old band, Maniac Squat, are playing a reunion gig on Thursday 26 October 2006 at Colchester Arts Centre. Vita Ross, who I am producing at Miloco, plays at the Whitechapel Gallery on Friday 25 August.
Favourite album section:
MILC: What were your favourite albums when you were:
a) 5-12 yrs old?
Sex Pistols - The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle
Blondie - Parallel Lines
Cure - 3 Little Boys
Kilburn & The High Roads - Handsome
b) 13-16?
David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
Def Leppard - Pyromania
Steve Miller Band - Fly Like An Eagle
The Doors - The Doors
c) 17-25?Iggy Pop - The Idiot
Nirvana - Bleach
Tom Waits - Swordfish Trombones
Mick Ronson - Play Don't Worry
Bob Dylan - Street Legal
MILC: If you could have been involved in the writing or recording of any one album, which one would it have been?
TW: Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
MILC: What is your favourite album cover and why?
TW: Woody Woodmansey's U-Boat - it's a take on the war comics you got as a kid, with the band standing on top of a U-Boat, while machine gun bullets hit it going 'rat-tat-tat'!
MILC: Which other band or solo-artist has influenced you most over the last 12 months?
TW: Hayley Hutchinson is a fine singer songwriter who has influenced me recently. I'm also digging the bluesy-progness of Claus Bohling's band Elektrum at the moment.
Other questions:
MILC: What's the last book you read/what are reading now?
TW: Lost in Music by Giles Smith
MILC: Who are you least likely to be sending a Christmas card to this year?
TW: A band calling themselves 'The Chavs' consisting of Carl Barrat (Libertines) and Tim Burgess (Charlatans), because I sing in a band called The Chavs that formed (and indeed released an album) before they did.
Final music section:
MILC: Which is the best gig you've ever been to?
David Bowie at Birmingham NEC 2003.
Daisy Chainsaw / Sheep on Drugs at Colchester Hippodrome 1993
Nick Cave at Reading 1992
MILC: What's the worst behaviour ever witnessed at a gig (your own, someone else's, on/off/back stage)?
I used to sing in a band called Maniac Squat in the early 90's and our guitarist fell asleep during the middle of a solo once. I have urinated and been sick while on stage, but I'm not proud of it.
Tom Wilcox was talking to MILC in the summer of 2006
© MILC@Miloco2006